In this picture dictation activity, students use a range of skills to investigate some ways humans use the waves on the electromagnetic spectrum. The electromagnetic spectrum This interactive ...
When children draw pictures of the Sun, they often show rays radiating outwards – similar to the image below. These light rays travel in a straight line at nearly 300,000 kilometres per second ...
The Earth’s atmosphere blocks most of the Sun’s UV radiation from penetrating through the atmosphere. The small amount that gets through has both positive and negative effects. Positive ...
This interactive looks at the electromagnetic spectrum. To use this interactive, move your mouse or finger over any of the labelled boxes and select to obtain more information. Select here for a ...
Light is a form of energy produced by a light source. Light is made of photons that travel very fast. Photons of light behave like both waves and particles. Light sources Something that produces ...
The universe is full of amazing things, but we need help to see most of them. There are many types of light that our eyes cannot see, so we use instruments, such as telescopes, that can detect ...
Professor Denis Sullivan studies white dwarfs – small and dense stars that are cooling down after being red giants. Our Sun, and most other stars, will eventually become a white dwarf. The life ...
Distances in space are really, really big. The Voyager 1 spacecraft is heading out of our Solar System at 62,000 km per hour, but even at that speed, it would take it 77,000 years to reach the ...
The video shows a hand making longitudinal and transverse waves on a slinky. The audio describes longitudinal and transverse wave characteristics.
Visible light is the small part within the electromagnetic spectrum that human eyes are sensitive to and can detect. Visible light waves consist of different wavelengths. The colour of visible ...
In this set of investigations, students explore objects made from materials that are transparent, translucent and opaque and the effect this has on their shadows. The investigations are designed ...
In this activity, students use scientific models and exploration to observe the position of the Sun and its physical effect on light and shadows. The activities are designed for students working ...
In this set of activities, students are introduced to basic Physical World concepts about light through the use of play and exploration. Students also have the opportunity to design simple ...
Electromagnetic radiation can act both as a series of waves and as a stream of particles that are called photons. Shorter wavelength photons have greater energy than longer wavelength ones. UV ...
Since finding all the planets in our Solar System, the search was on for planets around other stars (extrasolar planets). As methods and technology improve, more extrasolar planets are found ...
In this activity, students use a sheet of acetate to make a transparent, four-sided pyramid. The pyramid’s sides act as four mirrors, situated at 45 angles on a smartphone or tablet screen, and ...
In this activity, students are introduced to the concept of harnessing the Sun’s energy for our use on Earth. They will appreciate that the early Māori were also thinking about the Sun in ...
This interactive explores the sequential and interlinking science concepts that underpin knowledge and understanding about light and shadows.
Radiation simply means the emission (sending out) of energy from a source. It could be a speaker that emits sound waves, or the sun that emits heat and light. There are many different types of ...
Loss of the Night is an international citizen science project aiming to quantify the illumination of the night sky caused by artificial light. By monitoring how bright the night sky is over time ...
Ultraviolet (UV) light is part of a family of radiations called the electromagnetic (EM) spectrum. UV is just beyond the violet end of visible light and has smaller wavelengths and greater ...
Dr Melanie Johnston-Hollitt, from Victoria University of Wellington, explains the difference between planets and stars, and the place of the Solar System in our galaxy.
Several basic science concepts are needed to understand shadows. The New Zealand Ministry of Education’s Building Science Concepts (BSC) series presents sets of interlinking concepts that build ...
Children naturally and instinctively develop their own ideas about how things work. These self-developed concepts make sense to the individual but may be scientifically inaccurate. It is helpful ...
